Nifty hits 8150; banks, IT, oil gas, FMCG stocks lead

Talleen Kumar, CEO & MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation expects phase I of India’s largest infrastructure project to be completed by 2019. This phase will involve construction of Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat and Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park in Mahashtra. These two are part of the 8 smart industrial cities that have been planned along the length of the corridor.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Kumar said environment clearances for Dholera were in place, and that bidding process for both Dholera and Shendra would be rolled out in December this year.

Kumar said DMICDC has decided to go ahead with five cities in all, the other three being in Greater Noida, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.

“In all these five cities, we have land available with us. The state government has been very proactive in making land available to us and that is the reason why we are able to move ahead in these five cities,” he said.

Kumar admitted that land acquisition would turn out to be a major challenge for state governments as the project progressed.

“The land acquisition has been a challenging task for state government especially since the acquisition of the new Land Acquisition Act. We have to solve this problem if industrial cities have to come up,” Kumar said.

02:20pm Sunflag Iron in News

Investors bought more shares of Sunflag Iron and Steel Company on the news of funds infusion by Japanese company. The stock rallied as much as 9 percent to hit a 52-week high of Rs 33.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, in addition to 10 percent upmove on Friday.

A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on September 11, to issue and allotment of 1,80,21,945 equity shares to Daido Steel Company, Japan on preferential basis, amongst others, said the company in its filing.

The Competition Commission of India, on August 27, had cleared the proposal of acquisition of 10 percent stake in company by Daido Steel Company.

“The overlap between products and vertical relationship between parties is insignificant and would not raise any competition concerns in India. Further, based on the total market value of the steel industry in India, the market shares of Daido and Sunflag are also insignificant,” CCI explained.

02:00pm Equity benchmarks hit another record high in afternoon trade with the Nifty surpassing 8150 level, up 63.55 points to 8150.40 supported by banks, technology, FMCG and oil & gas stocks. The Sensex rose 212.58 points to 27239.28.

About 1992 shares have advanced, 902 shares declined, and 94 shares are unchanged.

State-run oil major ONGC remained on buyers’ radar, up 2 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to buy from neutral as it expects more gains from oil reforms than earlier. “Main reason for our optimism is recent press reports which suggest equal subsidy sharing by ONGC-Oil India and the government. ONGC is better off under equal subsidy sharing than under the Parikh formula, which we were earlier assuming,” the brokerage explains.